Happy New Year Everyone!!

Hello and Happy New Year to all my blogging friends and followers. I've been trying to catch up on everyone's blogs and it seems that everyone was blessed in many different ways this Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas as well and enjoyed having family here from New York and Texas. I just love having all the family together and this year was the first year in many years that my entire family was together for Christmas, including the newest addition to our family, Javan. He's just 4 months old and I could hold him and look at him all day long.



Here's a picture of our Christmas tree with all the gifts under it, inlcuding our two kitties Glory and Adventure.



We generally put gifts under the tree for our kitties and our dog Hunter, but they get too crazy at night while we're all trying to sleep. So this year, we hid their gifts in our closet until morning. They get to open their gifts first and we get a good nights rest. You can tell who rules in this house. :)


Adventure likes to think she's hiding in the wrapping paper while Glory tries to hide under their new scratching pad.


Can you find the big fat kitty?

Here's a collection of our crazy family.



Guess that's all for now. Time to go watch a movie with my dd. From our family to yours, may you all have a safe and Happy New Year!


God Bless! ~ Birgit

Vintage Christmas

Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends. It's been way too long since my last post. The weeks since Thanksgiving have flown by and now I find myself already in mid December! Does time ever slip by like that for you? I've been busy, I know I have, but what do I have to show for it? Well, I did get our Christmas decorating done and the tree just got put up and decorated this weekend. I just love the look of all the twinkle lights sparkling in the night and the sound of the wood stove crackling in the background. Cozy and warm! There's just a few more little things that I need to go out and shop for and I need to make our Christmas candy that I make every year to pass out to friends and family.



Here are some pictures of our home all decorated. I went with a little more vintage look this year as I brought out a lot of my childhood keepsakes to add to our decorating. I've been feeling very nostalgic, I guess, so this is how it all ended up. I never really have a plan going into decorating, it just seems to evolve once I get started. So, sit back, grab a cup of something warm and yummy and I hope you enjoy visiting our home this Christmas.

The mantel is always my biggest decorating challenge. I never know what to put on it to make it look cohesive but festive.

this year I just added a gameboard that I made in the center and added some stoneware crocks and jugs. I also added a vintage looking Santa and a reproduction candle mold. Stockings on the side as I don't like to hang anything directly over the woodstove.

Here are some other pictures of our livingroom


This mission rocker belonged to my great grandfather. It's in such great condition and I just love it!


I did a gingerbread baking theme on this tree and added some wood bowls and other baking goods to the desktop.




Here's a close up of the tree. I used reproduction cookie cutters and cooking utensils and added some homemade cinnamon dough ornies that I made last year. The tree is sitting in a wood bowl and then I added a rolling pin, some real cookie cutters and molds and such. I also tucked in the sweet little pillow that Colleen made for me that says "Believe".



The Nativity is always the first decoration I put out every year. Christmas began with the gift of Christ so it's only fitting that it take center stage on the sofa table in our living room. I also added the wonderful framed stitchery that Colleen made that says "O Holy Night".



The gathering of teddy bears all have a history. The one on the right inside the big basket was my dad's when he was a little boy. He gave it to me several years ago. The other bear holding the long pillow is one that I made while the stitched pillow was made by my dear friend Heather, in Utah. On my dad's teddy's lap is my dear old stuffed duck "Linda Lee". I've had her since I was two years old, she was a gift to me from my uncle. I loved her so much she no longer has a beak! Also, the two dolls are ones that I had when I was a little girl as well. All the books are books from my childhood, Daryl's childhood and my kids favorite Christmas stories when they were little. the bear in the red overalls in the red wagon is a Boyd's bear, named Christopher. Of course I had to look for an Amanda bear from Boyd's and she sits in front with the wool coat on. The other bears are some from my childhood.


Moving into the dining room is our big red step back cupboard. Notice the NOEL banner on the top, I made that banner last year.



This horse drawn sleigh was made by my mom many years ago. It has a little wind up music box underneath that plays "Over The River and Through The Woods".



A couple more books from my kids younger years and the letters to Santa I made from a pattern from Aunt Manny's Creations.




A yellow~ware bowl filled with greens and some gingerbread men I made.


This is a memory tree. I printed off pictures of grandparents and great grandparents who are no longer with us and pictures of my mom and dad when they were young. It's not very primitive but very vintage with the lace snowflakes made by my friend Linda in Ohio.





The cupoard is filled with old canning jars and vintage Santa images.





We're back to using our old dining room table until I can refinish our farmhouse table. We had to bring this old table up because it's bigger than our farmhouse table and we needed the room for Thanksgiving dinner with all the family.





I simply added the snowman to the shutter and a reindeer to the top of our china cabinet that holds all my grandmum's china dishes and teacups.


I didn't do much to the dry sink but added some vintage pictures of my grandmother and great grandmother and my grandmothers sister (my great aunt).



Some old college letters of my grandmothers sit in front of her picture on top of the dry sink.


The picture of the man isn't anyone I know. I found the old frame at an antique shop and figured I'd find an old family picture to fit it and I haven't found the right one yet.



We'll head into the entry way now.

The vintage story book is one that was left over from the open house. Actually, I had two left over (I made four). The other one is on our big red step back cupboard.


I brought the old snow shoes up from the basement. These were found in my sisters F-I-L's house after he passed away. They were going to throw them away!!










I switched out the whole arrangement in the cupboard above the stove. I added some vintage enamelware, a vintage cookie tin, some greens and homemade gingerbread men.




This is an old German Advent calender that we had when I was a little girl. I remember looking forward to opening a new door each day to see what picture was waiting for us behind the door. It's quite fragile now, so I've put it into an old wooden frame for safekeeping.




I've been giving a lot of thought as to what to put in the big section of this window shelf and I finally came up with something I liked.

I added a family picture of us and included the words "Family... is one of God's greatest gifts". I like how it came out after waiting all this time to do something.



I guess that's all for today. If you stuck with me this long, thanks so much for taking the time to visit me. I hope you all have a blessed week! Hugs~ Birgit

Giving Thanks~Tweaking~A New Project

Hello blogging friends! Thanksgiving is just two days away so I thought I'd share some little tidbits of things that I'm so thankful for as well as a cute Thanksgiving banner I made up to brighten up our big red stepback cupboard.



Of course, I'm most thankful for having God and my family in my life. My sweetie, whom I love so very much and my two little blessings (which aren't so little anymore). They are what my days and nights revolve around. I'm so thankful for our health and the abundance of blessings from The Lord.



I'm thankful for both my parents and Daryl's mother and all of our siblings and their families, that most of them live so close by.
We enjoy family gatherings during the holidays, birthdays, and many other non-occasion gatherings. We just enjoy being together.


Especially our newest addition to the family, little Javan Michael. I can't wait to meet him for the first time this Christmas. My neice and her hubby are coming up from Texas to be with the family. I'm counting the days already! I can't wait to hold him and kiss those chubby little cheeks of his!



I am thankful to live in such a country with all the freedoms that we so enjoy. Therefore, I'm also thankful for all our past and present service men and women who so selflessly give themselves for our freedoms.



I'm so thankful for the abundance in which God has blessed us with, wood in the woodbin


Food in the pantry



Warm blankets, pillows and beds of our own


Memories and stories of our rich family heritage, passed down from generation to generation.


Our pets, crazy as they are!


The list could go on and on. What are you thankful for? I've enjoyed reading many bloggers posts already about being thankful and they warm my heart! We should try to remember to have a thankful spirit not just at Thanksgiving time but all year through, especially during the tough and trying times.

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I did a little bit of rearranging in our home since the open house. I enjoy having a blank space again as it helps me think outside of the box. The entry way was all but emptied so I brought an oak bench that Daryl's parents made us years ago up from the basement. It was just too pretty to be sitting down there with stuff piled on top of it.


I added a quilt and pillows to soften it up and hung some sweet annie bunches above it. Don't pay attention to the unfinished baseboard. I think it will maybe get finished in my next life if I'm lucky. :) See the prarie bonnet on the peg? I found that on ebay for .50 cents!

I also made some simple curtains for the windows out of muslin.

I added some greens and berry garlands to give it a little country touch.


This sweet box was made by Kath over at The Weeping Cedar. I just love it! It looks great with anything in it. Here I've just added some wheat and a prim doll.

A shelf I changed up.

This is the bucket bench with some of the pumpkins from our garden this year.


More pumpkins on the center of the farmers table

Pumpkins on the fridge...

And on the big red stepback cupboard.



They're all waiting to be cut, peeled, cooked up and processed for cooking with throughout the year.
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Did you notice the banner on top of the stepback cupboard?? I have so much fun making these banners for different occasions. This one says "Give Thanks" and I gave it a little bit of country bling by using vintage glitter on the turkey tray and letters.






Thanks so much for stopping by. I love to read your comments so please take the time to let me know you were here. Have a blessed Thanksgiving! Hugs~ Birgit